20160504 - strange electrical problem

So, there I was over 400 miles from home at 6:30 in the morning when I get the flashing triangle thingy and the headlight with a zero symbol.  Ignore everything else in the picture.  I took this when I was safely at home, the bike was on the stand and I had a cold one in hand.

I was leaving Atlanta on the last leg of my journey (400+ miles), when I got the flashing yellow warning triangle and the headlight with a zero indicator.  I didn't know what that symbol was as I was riding.  My eyes aren't what they used to be when I was 20 and even at that, I wouldn't have guessed that was a headlight symbol.  What I new was that the following things happened with the appearance of that symbol:  The cruise control turned off, I couldn't move the wind screen up or down, my radio station was locked in.  I couldn't go through any menu items.  The good news was:  The bike had power and brakes.  The battery wasn't discharging.  Right then, I had a choice to make.  I could either navigate to the nearest BMW dealer and wait there for them to open or press on.  My GS-911 was at home and even if it weren't, I couldn't get a replacement part until a dealership opened and, more likely than not, they would have to order it unless it was a maintenance item.  I decided to press on and see what I could do while riding to further diagnose this problem.

Realistically, my biggest concern was that I was going to eventually have to fill up and when I did, I would remove the key from the ignition to open the tank.  At that point, I had no idea whether or not the bike would restart.  There are some things that can happen where the bike will keep running until it is turned off and then it will not start again until the message was cleared.  By my estimation, when all that happened, I would be about 60 miles from another dealership with the diagnostic equipment to figure this out.  That would mean a tow if I couldn't get it to start.  I would still be over 300 miles from my house, so parking it, going home another way and coming back with my trailer was possible; but, a serious time consumer.  I hoped that I'd be able to get a dealer on the phone with me while I was still riding to see if there was anything I could do to avoid a shutdown, if that was a possibility.  Unfortunately, I would be out of gas before anyone even turned the lights on.  Another thought I had was that I needed to stop at a town with some infrastructure...gas, hotel, auto parts, etc.  It works out that I ended up stopping just north of Valdosta Ga.  Before I turned off the bike, I pulled out the manual from the trunk.  TAKE NOTE:  THE MANUAL IS UNDER YOUR SEAT WHEN YOU GET THE BIKE.  PUT IT IN THE TRUNK.  YOU NEED THE KEY TO GET UNDER THE SEAT, WHICH MEANS TURNING OFF THE BIKE.  The manual said this was a headlight with a zero and that the cause had something to do with the computer not knowing where the headlight was or a bulb being out.  It said nothing about whether or not I'd be able to start my bike.  Throwing caution to the wind, I turned it off, filled it up and fortunately, was able to turn it back on.

Back on the road, with the warning light still blazing and electrical function still hit and miss, I called BMW Jacksonville to solicit their advice.  They said that there was nothing I could do from the roadside and that normally, the indicator is limited to headlight issues; but, since I'm having other issues, the problem is deeper and will require a diagnostic module hookup.  This was not good news because my windscreen was now in the up position and I was going to be riding into thunderstorms.  I like to get the windscreen down in heavy rain.  I had a big bag on the back, so riding from the back seat wasn't going to happen either.  I put the bike into rain mode and that was when I realized that all functionality lost was on the left cluster.  Horn, high beams, hazards, plus the stuff already mentioned were gone.  Additionally, everything on the left fairing (radio controls) were also gone.

As predicted, I got within 60 miles of home and ran into heavy rain.  By stretching, I could get my eyes over the windscreen.  Visibility was poorer than poor; but, I made my way.  At some point, I noted that the indicator had gone away.  I immediately lowered the windscreen and changed the station I'd been listening to (POTUS) for the last several hours.  I engaged the cruise control to finally give my right hand a break.  Intermittently, from then on, the failure would happen until I got home.

My understanding is that there are two campaigns out on the K16 that could be responsible for this - one is the handlebar cluster (which I've had replaced twice) and one having to do with software.

I will update this post once I run diagnostics on the bike and get the issue fixed.


----------Update----------

See my 48,000 mile maintenance report to understand why I won't go back to Eurocycles of Tampa Bay anymore.  Even after I discussed the broken bolts and rounded out bolts, they would not take any responsibility for any of it.  I'm done with them.

The next closest dealer is in Orlando (Magic City Motorsports).  Orlando is a two hour ride for me, as opposed to just over an hour for me to get to Tampa.  If you want service that is/might be covered by BMW, you have to go to a dealership, so off I went.

Mike is the Service Manager.  He answered the phone when I called a week ago and described the problem as being the L cluster switch.  He looked up my VIN on the spot and said that the switch had been replaced back in July.  He also said that this is a known issue and that he could probably get the switch replaced for me free of charge, even though my bike is thousands of miles out of warranty.

Steve was the tech that was going to work on my bike.  He noted that the tire pressure indicator was showing no pressure and I explained to him the history of that.  He really wanted to fix it because he doesn't like letting bikes go out that aren't perfect.  Unfortunately, they didn't have the bolt.  This is my kind of technician.  Steve agreed that the problem was the left cluster switch and replaced it.  I was in and out in an hour or so.  Magic City Motorsports replaced the cluster switch with no charge.  The cluster switch itself costs over $400.  Steve said that BMW has gone through 3 different manufacturers of this switch and knows they are still having issues.  BMW seems to think that the problem is manufacturing related, not engineering.  I hope they are right and that this switch doesn't need to be replaced!

........

If you're curious about everything else in the picture above:

The top two symbols are absolutely normal on startup and disappear when the bike starts rolling.  Ever noticed them before?  Sometimes I do, sometimes I don't.  The top most one is about the abs check being in progress.  The second one I don't know.  There's an explanation of all of these in the manual, except that one.  Maybe I just haven't read the section where it appears with an explanation...you'll never see this, so don't worry about it.  Moving right, I had less than 25 miles in the tank, was in neutral and had the fog lights on.  In the next panel, I was riding through thunderstorms, so I was in rain mode.  Again, I'm in neutral, the engine is off and mostly cool, I'm nearly out of gas.  I did my own 48,000 mile service, including a tire change.  The pressure sensor was broken and it was late on Saturday.  There was no chance I was getting a new one, so I get a tire pressure warning until I swap out the rear and put the sensor back.  I really like the 80's on 8.  The only other channels I listen to are 70's on 7 and POTUS.  Yes, that's a decent amount of miles for a bike that is only 2 and a half years old.  I'm 2026 from my last service.  I had a boatload of stuff I was packing for the ride, so the suspension is set for two up and yes, I like my long distance rides to be in comfort.